What is the correct format for citation schema?

• Do you think it's a good idea to use citation schema for article references?

  If so, is it possible to see an example of the correct format that a developer should use for citation schema in the source code?

Answer:

While it's true that citations for articles should/could potentially help Google understand the article better, we don't believe that Google is making use of it at this time to enhance search results. With that in mind, however, it's not a bad idea to add the markup data for important work when you can afford the time to do so.

Do be aware if you add citation links in schema, they had better match visible citation links to avoid a potential manual penalty.

Here's an example of using citation links in code which passes the schema tester at https://www.loudnoises.us/how-to-cite-sources-using-schema-org-in-json-ld/;

{
"@context": "https://schema.org/",
"@type": "Article",
"name": "The article title",
"about": "The subject of your article",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"@id": "https://www.website.com/author/your-name",
"name": "Your Name"
},
"citation": [
{
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"citation": "Smith et al, \"Some cited work\" Some Journal, Jan. 2015. ",
"url" : "https://www.domain/page.html"
},
{
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"citation": "Hatcher et al, \"Some other cited work\" Another Journal, Mar. 2019. doi: 12.3456/abc.01.123",
"url" : "https://www.otherdomain/page2.html"
}
],
"commentCount": 100,
"copyrightHolder": {
"@id": "https://www.website.com/#organization"
},
"copyrightYear": 2019,
"datePublished": "2019-04-23 01:23:45",
"dateModified": "2019-04-23 03:23:45",
"description": "The subject of your article",
"discussionUrl": "https://www.website.com/blog/your-post#comments",
"editor": {
"@id": "https://www.website.com/author/your-name#author"
},
"headline": "The article title",
"image": "https://www.website.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpg",
"inLanguage": "English",
"mainEntityOfPage": "https://www.website.com/blo...